Truro limits giant houses — just in time

Thursday

Nov 29, 2018 at 6:30 AMNov 29, 2018 at 2:21 PM

The overwhelming vote at Truro’s Nov. 13 special town meeting to impose limits on the size of houses throughout the town’s residential district may well have prevented an already large house in a prominent spot overlooking Cape Cod Bay from becoming a behemoth.

Roland and Lucia Letendre wanted to enlarge their house at 10 Thornley Meadow Road from its current 4,300 square feet to 7,400 square feet — almost four times the size of the Pamet Harbor Yacht Club — but the building commissioner denied them a building permit, finding that the lot lacked sufficient road frontage. So the Letendres went to the zoning board of appeals for a variance from the frontage requirements.

Though neighbors objected to the scale of the proposed house, members of the ZBA were clearly uncomfortable with the idea of denying the variance on that ground. Limits on the size of structures should be decided by town meeting, they argued, not by the town’s regulatory boards. And in a similar case before the ZBA, in which Susan Lewis Solomont had been denied a building permit for a new house at 37 Stephens Way, the board this week unanimously granted a variance from the frontage requirements. It seems likely that, if the Letendre case had reached a similar decision point, the ZBA would have granted them a variance as well.

But town meeting passage of the zoning amendment stopped the Letendre project. Under the new limits, they could build by right no more than a 4,472-square-foot house on their 3.68-acre lot. Even with a special permit for another 1,000 square feet, they were limited to 5,472 square feet — and because they had not yet obtained a building permit for the expansion, the newly enacted bylaw applies to their property. As a result, they have withdrawn their application for a variance.

House size limits make sense not just on aesthetic grounds. Thomas Bena, the Martha’s Vineyard carpenter who made the documentary “One Big Home,” interviewed carpenters and caretakers on the island. Though some tradespeople have benefited from construction of huge homes, many builders expressed disgust at the waste of resources. The owners of these mansions often keep them heated all winter. It takes thousands of dollars in fuel to keep 7,000 square feet of interior space warm, though the home owners are usually around only for the summer season.

“One Big Home” makes another important point about the need to build consensus in crafting rules that affect people’s livelihoods and property. In a pivotal scene, Chris Murphy, a retired Chilmark fisherman and longtime member of local regulatory boards, gives advice to the contractors and conservationists arguing over their town’s proposed bylaw limiting house size. He tells them that they need to talk to people at the supermarket and on street corners and listen to all viewpoints. Though these conversations would be awkward and sometimes contentious, over time people found common ground. And after more than a year of campaigning, a bylaw limiting house size to 3,500 square feet per three acres passed the Chilmark town meeting by a 162 to 51 vote in 2013.

Wellfleet and now Truro have done the same. The people who had those difficult conversations and sat through tedious meetings should be congratulated for making a real difference in their communities.